Fall Together
by TouchOfViolet
Summary: Wally West is ready to take the next step in his relationship with his girlfriend, Linda Park. Now, if only life and giant lizards would stop getting in the way.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: I do not own the Justice League or any related characters.

**A/N**: Well … this is the sequel to another story of mine, "It's Gotta Be Love." This is all I have written so far. I will try to write more of it, and post on a regular basis. But _try_ is the operative word there.

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**Fall Together  
**by: TouchofViolet

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_Justice League Headquarters_

_Cafeteria_

Sometimes the Flash really hated his friends.

He tried not to glare across the table, but he knew he was failing miserably. He crossed his arms against his chest and tried to look like he was not afraid.

It wasn't working.

He inhaled deeply. _I shouldn't have told them. _

"I don't think you have anything to be nervous about." Shayera stated, taking a bite out of her French fry. She used the remaining remnants of the fried potato to point at her friend in red. "She's going to say 'yes'."

The Flash shifted in his seat, and stared absentmindedly at his barely touched 37 chicken sandwiches. "Yeah …"

"What are you worried about?" Earth's Green Lantern asked, reaching across the table to take one of the Flash's chicken sandwiches, leaving him with only 36 more.

Flash glared at him halfheartedly. "Hey, I was gonna eat that."

The three of them were gathered around a table in the cafeteria of the watchtower, discussing the speedster's future plans over lunch. The cafeteria was unusually busy, probably because of all the new recruits that the League suddenly accepted. Superman had said that new members needed to be added to help deal with shift schedules, and the fact that more super villains seemed to be hitting the streets every day.

Flash picked up one of his sandwiches and gingerly took a bite. "It's just," he said, spitting food out of his mouth as he spoke, "you know … freaky."

Green Lantern wiped chicken pieces off his face and shook his head. "I don't get it. You run head first into danger at an alarmingly idiotic speed, and yet _this_ freaks you out."

"I don't run _head_ first …" Flash muttered.

Shayera finished off her meal and smiled at her friend. "So … what's the plan?"

"That's the problem" Flash began, "I don't have a plan! I have nothing. No plan, no merchandise, no nothing."

"Have you talked to her about it?" Shayera asked.

He shook his head. "Not really. I mean, a couple times, a few months ago. But we never discussed … the why and the how of it."

Green Lantern cleared his throat and took Shayera's hand. "Well, buddy, we'll help you anyway we can."

Flash smiled sloppily. "Thanks guys, but this is one mission I have to face alone."

The group was silent for a moment. The couple stared at their friend, blinking slowly. Shayera burrowed her brow and bit her bottom lip. Green Lantern managed to cough a couple of times. Cautiously, they turned to look at each other.

Shayera broke first; quiet giggles escaped from her lips. But once Green Lantern saw she was unable to keep control of herself, he began to chuckle. He held a fist over his mouth and tried to pretend like he was only coughing instead. Shayera's giggles turned into full blown laughter, only made worse by her beau's horrible cover.

Flash crossed his arms against his chest and glared. Again. "Come on, guys."

Shayera wiped the tears away from her eyes. "Jeeze, how long have you been waiting to use that gem, Flash?"

"I fail to see how it's so funny. I mean, it's true!"

She started laughing again, leaning onto Green Lantern for support. He was no help, chuckling and fake coughing into his hand loudly.

Most of the cafeteria noticed the commotion, and stopped what they were doing to stare at the group.

"Yeah, thanks a lot for all the help guys," Flash said, and took another bite out of a sandwich.

--

_Central City_

_Linda's Apartment_

Linda Park flipped through the channels on her flat screen TV. Her boyfriend had called over an hour ago and told her to put on her favorite dress and wait for him to show up. He didn't mention when he would show up, nor did he mention why she needed the dress.

She was getting annoyed.

She ran around to get ready for him, expecting her boyfriend to show up quickly and without warning, and she wanted to be ready. She showered, got dressed, did her hair and makeup – all at an astonishing speed. World record speed, in fact.

Twenty five minutes. Twenty five minutes!

She had stubbed her pinky toe three times on the same corner of her dresser. Three times! She broke a nail while hurriedly grabbing for her hair dryer under the bathroom sink. Broke a nail! She then tried to put on her Spanx, but the broken nail with its jagged edges of death had cut a run into the right thigh. HER SPANX!

And to top it all off, she was starving. Absolutely starving, but didn't want to eat until Wally showed up and explained what was going on.

So, she was hungry, sore, and annoyed – all because her boyfriend didn't show up when she thought he would.

The nerve!

She blew her black bangs off her face, and contemplated all the ways she could make his life miserable. She stopped flicking through the channels when she saw herself on the TV.

Monsiuer Mallah and the Brain – really bad guys – had been on the rampage at Go City. Apparently, they were trying to break into some lab run by a Dr. Caulder. The Titans had stopped them, and broken the pair up. Monsiuer Mallah was put into a high level security prison in Go City, but the Brain had been moved to a high level security prison in Central City. A local doctor was asked to run some tests on the villain, and he would have complete access to him at Central City Penitentiary.

Linda had interviewed locals on the street to see what they thought of the Brain, and having him, er … it? … in their own home town.

There was a knock on the door, and Linda got excited. She quickly turned the TV off and stood up, straightening out her little black dress and fixing her hair.

"Coming!" She called. Halfway to the door, she reminded herself she was supposed to be mad at her boyfriend, and forced the smile off her face. She opened the green apartment door, revealing her red-headed boyfriend in jeans and a brown jacket. He was carrying a woven wooden basket in his right hand, and a dark blue blanket under his left arm.

He grinned at her. "Hey, babe."

Linda tried so hard to be mad at him for taking longer than expected to get to her. But one of her favorite scents in the whole world reached her nose.

"Did you pick up burgers from Sal's?!" She exclaimed, smiling from ear to ear.

He nodded happily.

She stood on her tiptoes and kissed his lips. "You're the greatest, Wally! Get in here!" She grabbed him by the arm, and forcefully pulled him into her apartment.

He tripped over himself and almost fell to the ground. A playful glare overtook his face and he stared at his girlfriend. Carefully, he put his basket and blanket down. "Ooh, you're going to get it now."

"No!" She screamed in a laugh, and she ran to hide behind the couch. Wally beat her there, and grabbed her around her waist. "No! You cheated! No powers!"

He tickled her relentlessly, only increasing in veracity when she would protest.

"Wally West!" She exclaimed, rolling over the back of the couch to escape him. "That's no fair!" Linda crossed her arms against her chest, but her smile gave her away. "You used your powers. That's cheating."

Wally shook his head. "No, no. Not cheating. We didn't discuss rules beforehand."

Linda shook her head back. "You know better! We've discussed these rules before. Just because we didn't this time doesn't mean-"

"No, no, a new day means new rules."

Linda glared at him fiercely. She walked over to him, her feet stomping on the hardwood floor. Wally guarded his armpits carefully, backing away from the oncoming attack. Linda reached out, and gave him an unexpected purple-nurple.

"OOOWWW!" Wally exclaimed. "Okay! OKAY! You win!" He pried her hand away from his chest. She was laughing hysterically. "I cheated, you win."

She smiled brightly. "Yes."

"No more purple-nurples." He stated.

"No more powers." She stated.

He kissed her nose. "Okay, we have deal."

"So, can we have dinner now?"

He nodded, a smile on his face. "You go sit on the couch. I have dinner covered."

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Review please :)


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N**: The mood struck to write this story again. So, yay! And, sorry for any inconvenience.

**Disclaimer**: I wish.

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Chapter Two

In Which Wally's Boredom Gets Him Over His Head

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_Central City_

_Linda's Apartment_

Wally yawned. He closed his eyes tighter in an attempt to trick himself into falling immediately back asleep. Unfortunately, he wasn't buying it. He opened his green eyes slowly and shook Linda's hair off of his face. Carefully, he removed his arm from around her waist and rolled onto his back. Why he was even paying for his own apartment, he wasn't sure. He was never there. When he wasn't on League duty, he was with Linda.

Not that he was complaining, or anything.

Wally sighed and raised his hands to rub his eyes. Sitting up slowly and resting on his elbow, he peaked over his girlfriend at the alarm clock. Bright red letters on the clock read, "3:26." He sighed again, and threw himself back onto the bed.

Linda moaned quietly, lifting up a hand to scratch her nose. Breathing out loudly, she nuzzled her head against the pillow and drifted back to complete unconsciousness.

Wally smiled to himself and rested his hands on top of his chest. He stared up at the ceiling fan, counting the rotations. After a while, he started to think that the fan was moving slowly. And it was driving him absolutely insane. Was it on a slow setting or something?

He shook his head and tried to focus on something else in Linda's room. Her bedroom was surprisingly un-girly. It had actually taken him aback the first time he had stepped into her bedroom. There wasn't a single flower on the walls or the sheets, absolutely nothing was pink, and there were no stuffed animals to be seen. Her walls were an off white, her sheets were purple, and her clothes were neatly tucked away in her dresser. Despite the occasional picture hung on the wall of her with family members or old friends, there was nothing else to speak of in her room.

Wally noticed for the first time she didn't have any pictures of him in her bedroom, which to him was absolutely preposterous. He was pretty sure he spent more time in her bedroom than any member of her family, so he deserved to be in a picture on the wall. Right?

Gosh, that stupid fan was moving so slowly. What the heck was wrong with the freaking fan?

He sat up and hung his legs over the side of the bed. With a quick glance around the room, he tried to remember where he had stashed his costume. Maybe there was some plot going on that he could foil, some damsel in distress, some bad guy who needed a butt kicking. At this point, he'd take a kitten stuck in a tree.

Seriously, he was going to break the fan in half if it didn't start getting its act together.

--

_Somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean_

_The Playboy_

The first mate of a very exclusive yacht snuck out of the captain's office quietly, wanting to stand outside on the deck and smell the fresh sea breeze. The captain was such a prick, completely against doing anything even remotely fun. He was all about _safety _and_ efficiency_, which made the first mate wonder – and not for the first time – why the hell then the captain took a job on a yacht named "The Playboy".

The truth was, Phillip grew up with a fear of the ocean. He didn't mind looking at the ocean, and he was a decent sailor as far as managing a boat went, but he was absolutely terrified of swimming in it. A pool was one thing. Giant monsters aren't rumored to live in pools, and even if they were, pools are at the most six feet deep and you can always see the bottom. But the ocean: he shuddered at the thought. There was nothing more frightening to him than swimming in something that was hundreds of feet deep, and so clouded that you can't see past your hand. And as much as he told himself there was nothing in the ocean that could hurt him, save sharks perhaps, he knew better. He knew that every time scientists did their little diving expeditions into the ocean they were always finding new species that had never been seen before. He knew that there could be things out there; things lurking in the cloudy water that no one had ever seen before, things that would think of him as delicious fish food.

Phillip leaned against the yacht's railing, smiling down at all the pretty girls in their tiny, tiny bikinis. The Playboy was a luxurious yacht/party boat that rich clientele could rent – crew and all – and use out on the open ocean. They could enjoy being out on the water without any of the hassles of maintaining a boat. Most of the time their rich clientele brought beautiful companions; and, honestly, that was what made Phil's life worth living.

He knew that if his boss caught him ogling the clients he'd be in trouble – it was his job to make sure they were properly taken care of, not to make them feel uncomfortable. But a few minutes of healthy admiration for the female form never hurt anybody, especially when the captain wasn't around.

It was a beautiful, cloudless sunny afternoon. The girls were hanging out on lawn chairs, sipping fruity drinks and laughing with one another. One older man in a dark grey Speedo was doing laps in the pool.

A girl in a cute, blue bikini pointed off the stern. Phil heard her question, "What is that?"He looked where she was pointing and noticed a strange ripple on the calm water. Frowning, he pulled out binoculars.

Phillip gasped, absolutely stunned and dumbfounded. His worst fear … was rising out of the water off the stern. He needed to warn the Captain, but his feet wouldn't move. He tried to yell for help, but his lungs had no capacity for air.

The other girls stood up, walking towards the stern of the boat to see what the first girl had been pointing at.

He wanted to scream at them. He needed to tell them to run away from it, not go towards it.

He couldn't breathe.

"Wh-what is that?"

They started screaming. Phillip couldn't close his eyes.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!"

--

_Back in Central City_

The Flash sped through Central City for the third time that night. Absolutely nothing was going on. Oh sure, he foiled a petty theft, a carjacking, and what was clearly a domestic violence issue, but there was nothing going on that actually took much effort. He stopped in the middle of Main Street and looked around, trying to find absolutely anything he could occupy his time with.

It seemed like most of Central City was sleeping. And the rest of Central City was, for the moment, behaving. The Flash sighed and looked up at the sky. It was hard to see the stars through all of the street lights and clouds, but he knew what was up there.

Maybe there was something going on in the watchtower. Maybe someone was just _awake_ so he could talk to them.

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_Justice League Headquarters_

_Cafeteria_

Flash downed another iced mocha, his feet up on the cafeteria table. Superman looked annoyed by the hero in red's clear disregard for sanitation, but he held his tongue anyway, listening to his friend talk.

"So, I'm thinking of, you know, poppin' the big one." Flash said, putting his straw back in his mouth and slurping loudly. Superman grimaced. "But I don't know how, you know. I don't want to do the cheesy restaurant thing, hide it in a glass a wine or something. I want it to be, special."

Superman leaned back in his chair, "I think it all depends on how you define 'special' Flash. I think some girls would love to be proposed to at a nice restaurant."

Flash laughed in his face. "Oho, you have so not met my girl. If it is not original, she will kick me in the you-know-where."

Superman chuckled. "I think you'll figure something out."

Flash sat up, taking his feet off of the table. He glanced around, looking all at once confused. "Hey, dude, why is the cafeteria so empty?"

Superman stared at him for a moment, taken aback by his lack of observational skills. "You mean, besides the fact that it is five thirty in the morning?"

"Yeah," he nodded, a very serious and concerned look on his face. "It's so quiet it's creepy."

The dark haired superhero rubbed his chin. "Well, at about one o'clock this morning, we got a call for help from a planet in the next galaxy over – Romulus. They were being invaded by alien overlords and wanted the Leagues help. So, a lot of our heroes are there."

Flash dropped his cup on the table. "And no one called me? I've been bored out of my mind here! Dying for some action!"

Superman grinned at him. "They were being invaded by winged soldiers, Flash. We sent most of our flying heroes."

He made a disappointed face and relaxed his posture. "So, the end result is a quiet cafeteria."

"Yep."

"With just the two of us."

"You know, it's been this way for at least the last half an hour?"

Flash shook his head in amazement and slurped at his drink again. "It's crazy, man."

Superman couldn't help but stare at Flash with a worried, and yet slightly annoyed look plastered on his face. Apparently, planning to propose was taking its toll on the young man.

The transmitter in his ear whined to life, catching the hero slightly off guard. "Superman," a deep voice said.

He pressed a finger on the transmitter. "Yes, J'Onn?"

"The Secretary of Defense called. He wants to see you."

Superman stood up suddenly, so suddenly Flash jumped.

"What's going on?"

The hero in blue pushed his chair in politely. "I have to go meet the Secretary of Defense."

Flash bolted to his feet and quickly appeared at Superman's side. "Can – can I go with you? I'm dying for something here, Clark. Please?"

Superman looked him up and down, trying not to show the apprehension on his face that he was feeling. "Well."

"Please, Clark?" Flash begged, "I just need a little action, you know? Something to get my mind off … the _question_." He shuddered a little.

Superman sighed in obvious defeat. "Fine. But if he asks you to leave, you leave. Agreed?"

He nodded, a big, toothy smile on his face. "Agreed."

--

_Central City_

_Linda's Apartment _

Linda's alarm went off at six. She clenched her teeth and growled, slamming her hand down harder than necessary on the off button. Ordinarily, she would have taken her aggression out on the snooze, but today was different. The mayor in Metropolis owned several large shoe stores throughout the city. He had inherited them from his father, who had begun the stores years ago, making the shoes himself. And, as it turned out, Linda had it on pretty good authority that the city's beloved mayor was embezzling money from the stores. So, she was going to Metropolis to do some investigative journalism.

Ruining a dishonest person's career was not always the easiest thing to do. But boy did she enjoy doing it! That was probably something she needed to bring up with her therapist.

She sighed and rolled over, expecting to find her red-haired boyfriend sprawled across the majority of her bed, limbs hanging off the side. Instead, there was just a small note on his pillow. Her eyebrows came together and she grabbed the note.

"_Babe,_

_I'm out saving the world. Call you later._

_LOVE YOU!_

_Wally._"

Linda shook her head. Placing the note on her night table, she threw the covers off her body and stood up. "Oho, he so doesn't remember I'm going to Metropolis today." She stretched her muscles and walked over to her closet. She pulled open the doors and started shoveling clothes around, trying to find an outfit that was both flattering and intimidating. "He's going to show up here tonight and be so confused."

--

_Washington D.C._

_Pentagon _

Flash shifted nervously on his feet. The Secretary of Defense was an older, white haired gentleman. He was wrinkled and even had the signs of a gut forming. But despite his outward appearance, Flash was a little intimidated by him. Flash had no doubt that, even with his powers and the superman standing at his side, all the Secretary had to do was say one word and he'd disappear forever.

"Secretary Garret," Superman said with an authoritative tone in his voice, "I'm sorry about this – I'm not exactly sure what you're saying."

The Secretary glared behind his square glasses. "The military has been conducting … highly _confidential_ tests on a government owned island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. One of the test subjects escaped. As you can image, the test subject is very …expensive. And we would like to have it delivered back to the island _alive_ and _unharmed _as soon as possible." His blue eyes shifted from Superman, to Flash, and back to Superman again. "I thought you would be the man for the job, Superman. You and your friend here. Because I know that you will get the situation under control and you will cause _no harm_."

The older man stood up and walked to stand before the towering hero. "This is a very sensitive mission. Very confidential. I would not have called you if I didn't think you could handle it."

Superman nodded. "Of course, sir. We'll get right on it."

"Fantastic. You'll have the full force of the United States Coast Guard at your disposal." Secretary Garret said, returning back to his desk. "And boys," he began, glaring again from behind his glasses, "what you see out there – it stays out there. You hear? Not a word of this to _anyone_. Ever."

Flash gulped.

Maybe he should've stayed home and tried to fix the freaking fan.

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**A/N**: Spell check lies, so if you see something that needs correcting, don't be shy.

Not being shy goes alone with submitting reviews as well. So please do!


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N**: Yay! Another chapter! And only a week after the previous one. Whew, I'm on a roll.

Many thanks to everyone who reviewed. Special thanks to Hagstrom, who pointed out that Wally's eyes are green, and yet I wrote that they were brown. Seriously, I have a trouble with eye color. My own husband can close his eyes and ask me what color they are, and even if I had been looking right at him moments before, I can't remember if they're green or blue.

Like right now, thinking about his eyes – I got no idea.

I'm sure this is a diagnosable problem.

**Disclaimer**: Not mine yet.

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Chapter Three

In which Snapper Carr is very smooth

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_Metropolis_

_5__th__ Street Diner_

There were many things people didn't know about Snapper Carr. Oh sure, they watched him on the news every day. They invited them into their homes and trusted his words. But most people had no idea about his personal life, hobbies, or interests.

For one, he had a great singing voice. He had sung in the choir in his church growing up, and had received the lead role at many school plays because of how well he could sing.

He was also a fantastic cook. Actually, he even attended a culinary school for a little while, before happening upon his love for journalism. He could make anything out of anything. Give him a pantry with nothing but peppers and onions, and he could create the tastiest salad. His specialty was breakfast, as a matter of fact. Pancakes, omelets, bacon, crepes; you name, he made it. And he made it well.

Snapper was also a sucker for girls. Well, mostly one girl in particular. He had been desperately in love with her for at least a year now, and had yet to make a move.

Which, in a nutshell, was why he was eating breakfast at a tiny little mom and pop diner on the corner of Eaton and 5th. And was also why he was there, eating breakfast, every single morning. Every day, seven days a week. Come hell or high water he was there, eating a greasy omelet, making eyes at the girl and hoping that one day, maybe, he'd finally ask her for her number.

She was a waitress, and the daughter of the owners. She had a pretty round face, green eyes, brown hair and a smile that kept him from breathing.

Snapper sat at the counter, sipping at his cup of coffee while staring at her, but trying to act like he was really reading the Daily Planet that he held in his hands.

"Oh, Abby, you're too sweet to me." An elderly man at the end of the counter said to the pretty waitress, picking his cane up and steadying himself on his feet.

She smiled at him brightly, "Mr. Timm," she said with a laugh in her voice, "you _are_ my favorite customer."

He chuckled, shaking his head. "You have a great day, dear," he said, heading to the door.

"You too, Mr. Timm. See you tomorrow!" She picked up his plates, and headed into the kitchen.

Snapper peaked over the newspaper to watch her walk away. When she disappeared into the kitchen, he cleared his throat and glanced around the diner to see if anyone had noticed his inappropriate ogling. The place was always busy, no matter what time of the year. He couldn't, for the life of him, figure out why. The food was _dismal_, and the diner clearly hadn't been painted in _years_.

But then, here he was again, in his same stool, reading the same paper and sipping the same cup of coffee.

"What's the word, Snapper?" her gentle voice surprised him, and he looked up quickly. Abby was standing in front of him, elbows resting on the counter, a shining smile on her face.

He couldn't help but smile back and put the newspaper down. "Seems like it's a pretty slow day today, Abby. Daily Planet's got nothin'."

She nodded, inhaling deeply. Her brown hair was pulled into a sloppy pony tail, most of it falling down and hanging into her pretty face.

"What's going on in the diner, Abby?" Snapper asked, resting his elbows on the counter as well, leaning in towards her.

She bit her bottom lip in thought. "Hmm. Well, we've been open since four, I haven't sat down yet, and I'm wondering for the hundredth time today why I'm in these shoes. Because oh," she grimaced, placing the palms of her hands on the counter and using them to balance; she lifted up a leg to get her weight off of it, "they hurt like crazy."

He made a face of disbelief at her, and leaned even more forward so he could look over the counter to see the offending shoes. "If they hurt, why do you wear them?"

"First of all," Abby said, putting her leg back down, "they're cute."

Snapper lifted up a hand and started counting off her list with his fingers.

"Second of all, I haven't worn them in a long time, and I forgot that they hurt."

He chuckled and shook his head.

She smiled at him, tilting her head to the side thoughtfully. "I would've bet money that you would've made fun of me."

He flashed the same look of disbelief from earlier. "Personally, I'm offended. Oh, and speaking of being offended, that reminds me: Mr. Timm is your favorite customer, huh?"

She giggled in a cute way that wrinkled her nose. "Yes."

"And just what did he do to earn that position?" He asked, placing a thoughtful hand on his chin. "And, while we're on the subject, what can other customers do to earn that position?"

She giggled again, "I tell you what, Snapper. When you start leaving twenty dollar tips _you_ will become my favorite customer."

He stared at her in shock. "_Twenty_ dollars?"

She nodded, "Mm hmm."

"A twenty dollar tip for a four dollar breakfast?" Snapper questioned, shaking his head, clearly amazed.

"Yep."

"As _if_ the service is _that_ good."

Abby scoffed, and playfully hit him on his arm. "Whatever." She laughed and started walking away, "The usual?"

Snapper nodded at her, grinning.

She shook her head as she walked away, a smile on her face. She shouted out his order to her father in the kitchen and made her way over to another customer's table.

He sighed quietly and directed his attention to the TV mounted on the wall in the corner of the diner, conveniently located right above his seat. The weather channel was on. Snapper tried to warn himself that today would be a slow news day at work, and he should just prepare for the slow news day. Maybe if he finally asked Abby on a date, maybe that would make the day go by faster.

After a few moments of day dreaming, an older woman walked out of the kitchen and walked towards him with a plate of food. "Here ya go," she said, placing the food in front of him. Snapper smiled up at her. She was Abby's mother – and if a mother was any indication as to what the daughter would look like when she got older, Abby's future outlook was positive.

"Thank you, Mrs. Buchanan," he said, unraveling his silverware from the napkin on the counter.

She cleared her throat and narrowed her green eyes at him. "Can I speak to you, Snapper? One on one?"

He put the silverware down on the counter. He sat up as straight as he could on the uncomfortable stool, suddenly nervous. "What's up?"

Mrs. Buchanan looked around the diner quickly, and in a quiet voice she said, "I hate to meddle. But I'm a mother, and it's what I do." She made a clicking noise with her tongue. "When are you going to take my daughter on a date, hmm? I see the way you make eyes at her. For heaven's sake, you make it here every day, and I know it isn't for the amazing food – never tell my husband I said that or I swear on all that is holy I will kill you in your sleep. And Lord knows she puts that TV on the news whenever you are on, and God forbid if anyone even breathes a word of changing the channel then."

A blush over took the normally emotionally neutral reporter. He tried to form words (talking his way out of anything was one of his strongest suits) but he couldn't get his tongue to move.

His blackberry vibrated in his pocket, pulling him out of his stupor. As fast as he could, he put the phone to his ear.

"Snapper Carr," he said, sparing a quick glance out of the corner of his blue eyes to see if Mrs. Buchanan was still standing in front of him, waiting for an answer.

Unfortunately, she was.

His boss was on the other line, quickly belting out something about a ship sinking. Snapper hung up the phone and practically jumped out of his seat. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. "Sorry we can't finish this conversation, Mrs. Buchanan. I've got a lead on a story." He handed her the exact dollar amount for the breakfast he hadn't even had a chance to touch. "And, um," Snapper fiddled around in his wallet and handed her another bill. "Will you give this to Abby please?" He closed his wallet and put it back in his back pocket.

She stared at him in surprise.

"Tell her," he started, taking another sip of his coffee. He swallowed and shook his head. "Actually, you know, don't tell her anything. She'll get it. I'll see you later."

Before Mrs. Buchanan could object, he practically bolted out of the diner.

--

Abby happily jotted down the order of a young couple who were expecting their first child. They were cute, and Abby was always delighted to deal with kind customers amongst the many rude ones.

"I'll get your order in. It'll be ready in just a few," she smiled, sparing a glance at where Snapper usually sat. Her smile faded when she saw his empty stool and noticed her mother cleaning up his plates. She furrowed her brow and approached the counter.

"Snapper left?" Abby asked her mother, wiping down the section she had just cleared.

Her mom nodded. "He said he had a lead on a story." She balanced his dirty dishes on one hand and reached into her pocket with another. "He wanted me to give you this," she said, handing Abby a one hundred dollar bill.

Abby gasped and sat down on the stool. "You're kidding," she exclaimed, looking at the bill.

"No. He said that you'd 'get it'," Mrs. Buchanan explained. "Which makes me need to ask: honey, have you slept with him?"

"What?!" Abby choked out, her cheeks a bright red. "Mom!"

Mrs. Buchanan shrugged, "I'm just making sure he's tipping you for the service, baby, and not _the service_."

Abby slapped her forehead with her hand, "No, Mom. Please, no. He had just asked why Mr. Timm was my favorite customer, and I told him it was because of the twenty dollar tips."

"If you say so," Her mother said quietly.

"I do say so!" Abby exclaimed.

Mrs. Buchanan "tsk"-ed at her and headed into the kitchen.

Abby shook her head in an attempt to shake the blush off of her face. She looked down at the large bill in her hands. After a moment, she smiled thoughtfully, a light pink returning to her face. Quickly, she tucked the bill away with her other tip money and got back to her job.

--

_Somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean_

_Onboard a Coast Guard cutter_

At first, Flash had been rather nervous about the mission given to him by the Secretary of Defense. Something big was going to happen, he was sure, and at first he could not wait. Whatever it was, whatever they were going to face that they were not allowed to talk about, had to be better than the nothing he was doing back at Central City.

But, as it turns out, he was doing a whole of nothing aboard the Coast Guard cutter. Sure, it was gigantic, and there were a ton of people on board. But no one was talking. And when the officers would talk to one another – which was very rare – it was in a hushed whisper. If he wanted to get a good dose of the silent treatment, he would've forgotten that Linda's parents were coming into town again and then dealt with the cold shoulder in the comfort of her apartment building's hallway.

That had been a pleasant Labor Day Weekend.

He sighed and rested his forearms on the railing of the cutter, staring into the ocean. Superman was flying around the ship, searching for something, anything out of the ordinary. Flash was trying to help too, but in all honesty, he had _absolutely no idea_ what he was looking for. None of the officers on the cutter gave them any detail, and he suspected it was because they hadn't received any details as well. The Captain had just assured them they were going to coordinates of the last known sighting, and that was all she had said.

Superman pointed at something. "There."

Flash narrowed his eyes. Several hundred feet out, he saw remnants of something; large pieces of wood floated on the top of the water.

Superman flew out to the wreckage, circling around a few times. He then turned upside down and dove headfirst into the ocean.

Flash ran into the Captain's wheelhouse. "Superman found something." He said, speeding out, not bothering to listen to the orders she started barking out because of his statement. Flash made it back to the deck quickly, and tried to find Superman in the water. Unfortunately, the speedster wasn't blessed with the ability to see hundreds of feet into the water, no matter how hard he squinted. Superman resurfaced, his costume wet and his cape hanging close to his body. When he landed on the cutter, Flash let out a concerned sigh. "Well?"

The hero in blue looked off to the distance, quietly. "Wreckage. Recent. There were still …. fresh parts."

Flash cocked an eyebrow. "Well, duh. I can see some of the parts from here," he waived his hand around, using the gesture as a way to explain what 'here' was.

"No," Superman said, giving his fellow hero a stern look. "_Parts_."

"You mean like, _people parts_?" Flash grimaced. "Ew."

Superman straightened his posture when he noticed the captain approaching them. "Something very, very bad happened here."

The Captain was a tall woman, with dark skin and brown hair pulled into a tight bun beneath her hat. Her eyes were green and narrowed severely. "Well?" She asked the heroes.

"I don't know exactly what is going on," Superman began, "but whatever it is, it has killed at least twenty people. You cannot expect the League to stand idly by and not report something like this."

She titled her head to the side and made a disapproving sound in the back of her throat. "I can, Superman. And I should warn you not to make threats against the US military or the US government, because with all your powers, don't think we can't make you disappear."

Superman became very indignant, puffing his chest out at the threat. He opened his mouth to speak, but something off the starboard side caught his attention before anyone else's. He turned quickly and looked off into the water, apparently trying to spot whatever he had heard.

Flash looked between Superman and the Captain several times. The Captain looked incredibly po'ed, and yet still curious as to what Superman was doing. Flash tried to think of something snappy to say to her, something to knock her on her butt after the way she had threatened his friend, but all he came up with was, _"Be quiet, mean lady_," so instead he turned his attention to Superman. "Whaddya see, Supes?" He asked.

Superman never had a chance to answer his question; what he was looking for rose out of the water.

* * *

I know, it's a terribly mean place to end the chapter! I mean, we were just getting to the good stuff! But I wanted to end it on a cliffhanger, so, I'm evil.

Again, I would just like to point out that spell check lies, so if you see something that needs correcting, please let me know.

And, as always, please review!


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter up. The next chapter should come somewhat faster because I have part of it written already, and I have a beta to bounce ideas off of.

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing. 'Cept for Abby and Gus. Which is alright with me - cause they are awesome.

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed/story alerted so far! You guys make me soooo happy!

Thank you SO MUCH Jordan for the beta! Because everything is better with beta!

Seriously, I thought of that saying the other day, and I still think it is absolutely hilarious. Ah, I never fail to amuse myself.

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Chapter Four

In Which Much Chaos Comes Ashore  
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_Somewhere in Metropolis_

_WKEY-TV News Van_

Linda was in the passenger's seat of one of her station's news vans, chewing on her bottom lip and staring out the window. She had absolutely no idea where she was, and doubted very much her cameraman/driver had any idea where he was as well. She liked Gus, and always tried to assume the best of him. She told herself that he knew where he was going, or else he would've asked to look at a map or stopped for directions by now.

Linda sighed. Unfortunately, she knew better- he had no idea where they were and was too stubborn to admit it. She turned in her seat and opened her mouth.

"I know what you're going to say," Gus said, sparing a sideways glance at her. "_Don't_."

Linda scoffed, crossing her arms against her chest and glaring out the window, upset that her attempt at respecting the older man went unnoticed. Her anger quickly disappeared, however, when she noticed something interesting out of the window.

"Stop!" She exclaimed, leaning forward and pressing her nose against the glass.

"What?" Gus asked, looking at her like she was crazy.

"Stop the van!"

He slammed on the breaks, bringing the van to a screeching halt. Linda glared at him. "Smooth."

He huffed, "Well, you were yelling at me!"

She rolled her eyes, quickly opening the door and hopping out of the van. She couldn't believe her luck. Seriously, her day in Metropolis had become rather boring and pointless, but then fate just went and gave her a wonderful opportunity to take her aggression out on someone weaker than she.

Snapper Carr was leaning against the red brick wall of the MCN station, a notepad in his hand and a cell phone on his ear. Linda sauntered across the street; she leaned against the wall next to him. "Lucas," she said with a smile.

He hung up his phone and raised a cocky eyebrow. "Linda."

The WKEY-TV van pulled up next to them, parking at the curb. Linda could see Gus sitting in the driver's seat, lighting up a cigarette.

"What brings you to Metropolis?" Snapper asked carefully.

She shrugged nonchalantly, trying to steal a look on his notepad. He quickly closed the over. "Got a lead on a story. What are you up to, Lucas?"

He squinted his blue eyes at her. "I've also got a lead on a story."

Linda sighed and looked away from Snapper, trying to act uninterested. His phone rang again and he quickly answered it, turning his back to Linda and holding his notepad at his side. Linda spotted her chance and grabbed the notepad from his hands.

"HEY!" Snapper exclaimed angrily before quickly excusing himself from his cell phone conversation. "Give that back!" He reached to snatch it out of her hands, but Linda – who had managed to keep things away from the freaking Flash – had no trouble keeping it away from him, a man without any super powers. She flipped through the book, coming to a page she was interested in.

"A yacht was sunk?" Linda tossed the book in the air. Snapper jumped to catch it. "_That's_ your story? Slow news day, Lucas?"

Snapper glared, clearly offended. "At least _I_ have a story. You're just hanging out at another news station and harassing the employees. This isn't even your city."

Linda placed her fists on her hips. "Well! If you're going to be absolutely no fun…"

"Oh, I'm," Snapper started, but a man with a large camera on his shoulder walked out of the MCN building and approached the reporters.

"Dude, we gotta get going," the cameraman said. He was young and covered in facial piercings.

Snapper looked at him, the same cocky eyebrow high up on his forehead. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," the cameraman said coolly, glancing at Linda. "Car's comin' around."

Snapper turned and gave Linda a pointed look.

"Fine, fine," she said, trying to sound defeated. "I'll leave you and get back to my job – as a _real_ reporter, reporting on _real_ stories." She flashed a brilliant smile and opened her van's passenger side door. "Have fun with your _little boat_, Lucas!"

She slammed the door closed, sticking her tongue out at Snapper.

He visibly sighed and shook his head, clearly annoyed.

"Let's go," Linda ordered, not even sparing a glance at her chauffer/cameraman, "but don't go far. Around the corner. I wanna keep an eye on him."

Gus did as he was told. "What do you got against that guy, anyway?"

She shrugged. "We went to school together."

They turned to corner, and Gus shook his head. "You know, that explains nothing."

"You know, your mother explains nothing."

He parked the van. "Okay, first of all: that makes no sense. And second of all: why do you gotta bring momma into this?"

Moments later, a red corvette convertible went blazing by, Snapper in the passenger seat.

"Follow him!" Linda yelled, pointing a finger at the passing car.

Gus flinched. "Jeeze, _loud_."

--

_Metropolis Docks_

Gus and Linda had been sitting in the van, spying on Snapper for the past few minutes. They had chased them down to the docks of Metropolis. Snapper was on the phone, practically yelling into it, while the cameraman idly fiddled with his camera.

She was really, really bored.

Linda over exaggeratedly blew her black bangs off her fair face. "Man, I just wish something exciting would happen today."

Gus shrugged. "We could get back to work, investigating the mayor."

Linda narrowed her eyes at him. "Um, dude, its eleven. And our appointment with the mayor isn't until three."

The older man stared quizzically at her, dumbfounded. "Did – did you just call me dude?"

Before Linda could reply with a smart answer, a deafening noise exploded around them. The ground shook, rocking the van back and forth violently. She screamed despite herself. Gus reached out and grabbed her arm in an attempt to support both of them in their pitching vehicle. Around the corner came a huge crowd of people, running and screaming, first past Snapper and his cameraman (who were holding on to a building for support) and then past the WKEY-TV news van.

The ground stopped shaking, the road giving a loud rumble of protest.

"Come on!" Linda called, quickly opening up her van door. She ran across the street to Snapper.

He almost looked relieved when he saw her approach.

"What the hell is going on?" She yelled out before coming to a running halt before him.

Snapper reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her to the building as the ground around them began to shake again violently in random spurts. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Gus ran over to them with wobbling steps. "What the hell is going on?" He called out.

The shaking stopped. The four of them let out a loud, collective sigh.

More people were running by, some of them screaming.

Snapper stood out and tried to get the attention of someone running by. Absolutely no one paid any attention to him. So, Linda had a go of it. She stood by his side and grabbed a random man's arm. "EXCUSE ME!" She yelled to get his attention. He stopped running to stare at her in confusion. "Linda Park – WKEY-TV. Can you please tell me what you're all running from?"

His eyes opened wide. "It's freaking Godzilla, man!" he said, before shrugging Linda off of his arm and running again.

Snapper and Linda exchanged glances. And without a word to their cameramen, they took off running towards the area that everyone else was running from.

--

She and Snapper ran down the block and around the corner, Snapper farther ahead because she was the one stuck wearing heels. Occasionally a loud roar would burst through the atmosphere and the ground would let out a tremor. Images of what was awaiting them flashed before her eyes in excited anticipation.

She had gotten what she had wished for.

Snapper rounded the last corner, coming to a halt before Linda had a chance to realize what was going on. She slammed into his back. She went to yell at him, but stopped when she noticed he was staring, slack-jawed at something in front of them.

Slowly, Linda turned to look.

It, whatever it was, was gigantic. It was easily way over 300 feet tall, towering above buildings and raising its scaly head in the air to let out a loud roar. Around its neck was a large flap of skin that stuck out, making the beast's head look even large than it was. Down its back were large, pointy scales. It had green skin, and it had long arms with ferocious claws. Its tail was striped and almost as long as the beast in size, swinging about wildly and ripping through buildings on each side of the road.

Linda managed to close her mouth, glancing briefly to see that Snapper was still staring at the massive reptile. "Huh. Another monster invading Metropolis." She managed dryly.

He closed his mouth and, instead of replying, turned his head down the road.

Their cameramen were fast approaching.

Linda looked behind her to see where the beast was. She lined herself up so Gus would have a great shot, the monster directly behind her.

"You're in my spot," Snapper said, trying to push her out of the way.

Gus and Snapper's cameramen were actively filming the monster.

Linda stepped hard on his foot, her heal digging into his toe. "No, it's my spot, Lucas."

Snapper hissed, hopping on one foot. "It's my city, Linda, get out of my spot!"

"I will not! I got here first, and it's my spot now!"

"You can't even go live! We," he pointed at his cameraman, "can go live! We're hooked up with Wi-Fi throughout the whole city."

She glared and shoved his chest. "I can stand wherever the hell I feel like it and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it."

Gus pulled the viewfinder away from his eyes. "Uh, guys."

The reporters were too busy bickering and shoving each other to notice how the tremors that shook the roads increased in violence with every step the beast took towards them. They did, however, notice the way it roared above them, and the way it raised its large claw and crashed it down onto the building above them before bending its head down and pulling several people who were running away into its mouth, swallowing them whole.

Linda screamed again, staring in horrified wonder as the roof above them began to crumble down.

They were going to die; the roof was going to crush them, and she couldn't even get her feet to move.

Snapper pulled her to the ground, covering her head with his chest.

They braced for impact, but impact never came. Instead, a wind swirled around them.

Snapper let go of his grip slightly. Linda lifted her head up. A tornado of red spun around them. Linda blinked. Snapper was holding her down; the two cameramen at either side of them. The three men were looking up in dumbfounded amazement.

The large pieces of the building were floating on top of the red tornado.

All at once, the large chunks were thrown across the street, crashing down onto an empty area of pavement. The Flash stood before them, his hands on his hips and a smile on his face. He went to speak to the group, before noticing who was among them.

His hands fell to his sides, a worried look appearing on his face. "Li – Miss Park?" He asked, suddenly concerned.

The men stood up around her. Gus reached down and offered her his hand. Linda took it, but stared wide-eyed at the hero in red.

He was absolutely gorgeous. He was just standing there, amongst the melee of chaos swirling behind him. His was a small bit of perfection in the middle of absolute craziness. He stood tall, his shoulders broad. His muscles were outlined perfectly beneath his costume, defining his sinewy abs. He had saved her; he had rescued her from certain doom. And that, tied with how impossibly irresistible he was looking made her tingle.

"What are you doing in Metropolis?" The Flash asked.

It took her a moment to register that he was speaking to her. She blushed, despite herself. "I … mayor, corrupt. Doing story." She managed. Why was it so hard to look at him all of the sudden?

All at once, Flash seemed to realize what she was thinking. He smiled, puffing out his chest. He turned to her companions. "I trust you three men can look after Miss Park during this little … crisis?"

Gus nodded and placed a hand on Linda's shoulder.

Flash winked at her before speeding off towards the disappearing monster's figure.

Linda felt her knees go week, and she grabbed on to Gus's arm for support. She swallowed hard over a lump in her throat.

She really should have Wally wear the costume at home.

--

_Metropolis_

_Ground Zero_

Superman was growing more and more agitated. He was feeling useless – and that wasn't a feeling he was accustomed to. Trying to fight the beast in the ocean had been pointless. He could've taken control easily, but the captain had made herself very clear: if the test subject even had one scratch on him, Superman's head would be placed on a spike. He had tried just picking it up, but without the use of any type of force the giant lizard easily rolled out of his grasp.

It didn't help Superman's attitude any that the beast seemed to have an agenda, making its way without any hesitation to Metropolis – _his_ Metropolis.

And now he was in Metropolis, watching the beast destroy property and people, and still feeling useless. The National Guard had shown up, only with the Secretary of Defense in tow. And Superman was told to wait and do nothing until the equipment arrived to safely sedate the animal.

If it had been anyone else at all, maybe Kal would've just taken matters into his own hands.

But this was the Secretary of Defense! Could disobeying his orders count as treason?

He'd have to ask Bruce later.

He was growing annoyed, and even becoming angry. Kal reasoned with himself that he'd give the Secretary a few more minutes. He'd let the "necessary equipment" show up. He'd let the Secretary try it his way. And if that didn't work … well, then, he was left with little choice.

He'd just have to save the day.

The Flash came to his side, the wind he produced causing Superman's cape to flap.

"Psst," Flash whispered. "I have an idea. We have to do something … we can't wait any longer – Linda's here."

Superman stared at the Flash before looking behind him at the soldiers and tanks stationed along the side of the road.

What was the point of tanks anyway, when they weren't even allowed to scratch the thing?

He sighed and shook his head. Well, at least if the Flash was the one who disobeyed the Secretary's orders, he couldn't be exported. After all, he wasn't the alien standing on foreign soil.

"Whatever your idea is, Flash, it can't hurt the monster," Superman whispered back.

Flash shook his head. "Scouts honor."

Superman glanced at the Secretary one more time. "Be quick. I'll stall here."

--

The idea was brilliant.

It should've been. He ripped it off from Star Wars.

It had been executed flawlessly. As soon as Flash had gotten that rope tied up around the monster's hind legs, the monster went down and couldn't get back up.

He thought he had saved the day.

And, seriously, he was feeling really good about himself. Linda had practically drooled all over him and now he had saved the whole town.

Things were looking positive for his night at home.

But the Secretary of Defense had been none too happy with him. Actually, he had yelled and called Flash terrible names.

Superman had stepped in, defending his teammate.

But the Secretary of Defense was none too happy with him either.

"Not only do we not have any tranquilizers on hand to sedate the subject now that it's down, not only do we not have the necessary equipment to keep him down, but you caused it to fall so hard it could be hurt!" Secretary Garret yelled at the two heroes.

"It was eating people!" The Flash yelled back. "American citizens! It was eating Americans! It's … it's a terrorist!"

"Listen, you little-"

The beast roared from behind them, waking from its unconscious state. It opened its large mouth and flames erupted from it, disintegrating the ropes around its legs.

"Uh-oh," Flash said.

The ground shook like it did when the beast took a step, but the monster had yet to rise to its feet.

"What is that?" Flash asked no one in particular.

The Secretary pointed to the east in the direction of the Metropolis docks. A second monster's head rose high above the cityscape.

"Uh-oh." Flash said again. "That can't be good."

* * *

**A/N**: Another chapter down, and we're getting to the good part! I hope to have the next chapter up here soon-ish (no later than Thanksgiving). But, reviews do serve as inspiration to write a little faster(/shameless begging)


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** Oh, how I wish I owned Snapper Carr. But -sigh- I just had a birthday, and I still didn't get him! Maybe for Christmas?

**A/N:** I have no idea why I didn't post this sooner. Just lazy, I guess. The only reason I'm posting it now its because I'm avoiding working on a paper. Freaking college ...

Thank you Jo-Jo!

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Chapter Five  
Disconnected

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_Metropolis_

_On 5__th__ Street_

Snapper could feel his body want to shake. He couldn't let himself give into his fear – he had a job to do, damn it! He closed his eyes, held his breath, and counted ten. He wasn't really worried for himself, in all honesty. But he was standing just across the street from her diner and he was absolutely petrified for her sake.

Was she ok? Was she hurt? Was she dead?

He wasn't sure he'd survive this if something had happened to her, especially knowing he hadn't been there to save her.

"Lucas?" Linda's voice was soft; she sounded concerned.

Snapper opened his eyes. The street was practically deserted. Linda and Gus stood off to the side; she had a worried look on her face. His cameraman, Mike, stood before him with a camera on his shoulder.

"You ready?" Mike asked.

Snapper nodded, clutching on to his microphone. "Let's do this."

"We're live in 3-2-1. Now."

"This is Snapper Carr, live on the streets of Metropolis where several large reptiles have come ashore from the ocean. They are considered extremely dangerous, and residents are advised to stay in their homes. Do not panic. The National Guard and several members of the Justice League are on the scene, working to subdue the reptiles. Again, I repeat, do not panic. Stay inside."

No sooner had the words left his mouth, the ground began to shake again in the most unwelcome of ways. At least a hundred people choose that moment to run screaming down the street, passing Snapper and his live television feed.

They were clearly panicked.

Snapper sighed despite himself, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger.

Linda let out a laugh.

"And we're out," Mike said, moving the viewfinder away from his blue eyes. He looked around at the crowd running past them. "Should we be running too?"

At that moment, one of the lizard's giant head rose above some of the buildings at the opposite end of the street.

Linda and Snapper looked at each other. They nodded nonchalantly. "Yeah," they said in unison.

All four turned, running away from the beast.

Snapper could hear the sound of his name being called, above all the melee by an incredibly familiar, if not incredibly panicked, voice. He grabbed Linda by the hand and guided them all towards the voice.

--

Abby wasn't sure when she started crying. It may have happened when he appeared on the TV screen, it may have happened when she realized he was just outside the diner, or it may have happened when she saw him running for his life. But no matter when it started, it did start, and she found herself crying, standing in the doorway of her familiy's diner and screaming out his name.

He must've heard her, because he turned, grabbing his companions by the arms and running towards her across the street, through a huge panicked mob. The four of them barreled into the diner, the door closing behind them with the annoying bell chiming above it. Snapper pulled Abby into a tight embrace, lifting her completely off the ground and burying his face into her neck.

Abby let a squeal of surprise before relaxing and allowing herself to cry in his arms.

He set her down on the ground and put his hands on her shoulders, glancing at her up and down to make sure she was in one piece. "Are you okay?"

She nodded, quickly wiping the tears off of her face.

Snapper tore his blue eyes away from her and glanced around the diner.

There were a small group of people who had gathered together in the diner, watching the news in petrified silence, unsure of where to go or what to do to keep themselves safe from the invading monsters. Her father had stopped cooking; her parents were holding each other and leaning against the counter.

"Is everybody okay?" He asked the patrons of the diner.

There was a collective nod and a general hum of an answer.

"What the hell is going on, Snapper?" Her father asked.

Snapper let go of Abby's shoulders and rubbed the back of his neck. "Two giant Godzilla like creatures are roaming the streets of Metropolis. But Superman is working with the National Guard, so we're advised not to panic."

Abby sniffed loudly. "They aren't Godzilla."

He looked down at her, confused. "What?"

"They're iguanas."

The black haired lady Snapper had run in with snorted. "Listen, lady, I've seen iguanas. They are not iguanas. Iguanas are cute, little things that do not eat people."

"They're eating people?!" Her mother called out from behind everyone. "Oh my God!"

The black haired lady pressed her lips together. "Woops."

"Abby, this is Linda," Snapper gestured at the other woman. "She's a reporter from Central City. This is her cameraman, Gus, and this is my cameraman, Mike."

Abby gave them all a nod before turning her attention back to Snapper. "I'm telling you, they are green iguanas."

Linda cleared her throat and crossed her arms against her chest. "And you would know because … ?"

"I'm going to Metropolis University for my degree in herpetology," Abby finished.

The older cameraman, Gus, raised a big, grey eyebrow. "You study sex diseases?"

She shook her head, surprised by his question. "Um, no. Herpetology is the study of amphibians and reptiles." Abby turned and pointed at the TV, which was tuned to MCN, airing video of one of the giant lizards. "See, look at this guy. He's got the same striped tale as a green iguana, the same spikes on his back as a green iguana, and you can tell he's male because of the dewlap around his neck."

Mike, in all his facial piercing glory, pursed his lips, making his snakebites more noticeable. "The what around his neck?"

Abby gave a shrug. "The dewlap. It's the skin fold around his neck. Male iguanas have dewlaps to make themselves look bigger – more intimidating to other male iguanas, more desirable to female ones."

Linda shook her head and hit Snapper on the arm. "She's still in school, Lucas, we can't trust her to be an expert."

Abby snorted. "Yeah, I'm still in school, but I mean, I'm going for my doctorate. Whatever, yeah, I'm just almost done with my PH.D, but what do I know about lizards?" She narrowed her brown eyebrows at Linda pointedly, and the other girl looked slightly offended.

"So," Snapper began, making his way over to the diner's large window, "you say they're just … giant, green iguanas?"

There was a loud noise and the building shook. Some of the women in the diner screamed, the loudest scream belonging to Abby's mother, who then started reciting the Lord's Prayer.

Abby stood next to Snapper, looking at the window in the direction he was focused on. One of the beasts was at the end of the street, raising its head into the air and letting out a loud roar. "That one's female," Abby told the reporter next to her. "And that worries me."

He turned his head to look at her. "How do you mean?"

"Male green iguanas are territorial. They tend to stake out the best section of land for themselves, threatening and fighting any other male who invades their perceived territory," she explained, "but, they often let females into their territory in exchange for mating rights. So, it is not unusual for one male iguana to have a harem of females – two, three, or sometimes even over five females. And if that one there is female," she pointed out the window to the stalled monster, "which, she is, because she doesn't have a dewlap, she's probably not the only female in his harem."

The older cameraman sighed. "This is gonna be a long day, isn't it?" He turned to the black haired woman. "We shoulda just stayed in Central City. Who cares about the freaking mayor?"

Snapper glanced at Linda, an amused look on his face. "What about the mayor?"

Linda forcibly laughed, elbowing Gus hard in the ribs. "Nothing, Lucas. Nothing." She smiled very big.

Abby blinked at the two reporters, feeling a pang in her chest at the way the two of them looked at each other. She didn't really have time to focus on the uncomfortable feeling because the building shook again. The younger cameraman let out a gasp.

"It's coming this way!"

Abby turned on her heel to look out the window. The beast was down the street, slowly taking steps forward and swinging its long tail back and forth. The tail was like a whip, ripping through buildings on either side of the street and turning them into rubble.

"We gotta get out of here," Snapper exclaimed. It was an order more than a statement, and everyone in the diner quickly heeded it, running out of the diner and into the chaos on the street.

She was quickly separated from everyone she knew, lost in the mass of people trying to get away from the giant reptile. She couldn't see her parents, and she couldn't find Snapper. The mob of people was panicked, pushing and pulling on her to keep moving forward; they wouldn't allow her the time to stop and look around.

To her right, an older man fell down. She tried to help him up, but the crowd of people wouldn't let her through. She could hear his cries when the crowd continued over him, ignoring that he even existed.

Biting tears formed in her green eyes. "Somebody, help him!" She yelled, trying to push through to get to him. "Please, he's being trampled! Somebody help him!"

A strong hand grabbed her arm. "Abby! Come on!"

She turned her head to see Snapper grabbing at her, trying to pull her out of the mob. She shook her head, tears falling from her face. "They trampled him, Snapper! They trampled him!"

He readjusted his hold to grab her tighter, and then, raising up an arm over his face, barreled through the crowd.

--

Snapper had had to push and shove to get over to her. Sheer terror had gripped him when he realized she was lost in the crowd, stuck in the heart of it all. He had run people over to get to her, to pull her to safety. And he was caught off guard when she didn't immediately want his help.

He noticed right away that she was crying.

"Abby! Come on!" He called, tugging on her to get her attention.

She turned her face towards him, tears staining her porcelain cheeks. "They trampled him, Snapper! They trampled him!" She cried.

Somebody from behind shoved into Snapper's back, and he realized how volatile the situation was becoming. He adjusted his hold on her arm to grip her tighter, and raised his own arm over his face like a shield. Inhaling deeply, he barreled through the crowd.

Linda, Gus, and Mike were climbing up the ladder of a fire escape, to get to the roof of an apartment building and out of the crowd. He had to literally push Abby up the ladder. She was shaking and crying and wouldn't move on her own; he had to get beneath her and push her in order to make her take a step up.

When they finally made it to the roof, she collapsed in a heap, sobbing into her hands.

Linda blinked at the brown haired girl. "What happened to her?"

"They killed an old man!" Abby exclaimed, pointing down at the crowd below. "He wasn't moving fast enough – and they trampled him!"

Snapper sat down next to her, putting an arm around her shoulders. "Come on now, Abby." He whispered. "Bad things happen. But you can't collapse every time. We have to keep our wits about us if we are going to survive this thing."

Snapper quickly kissed her temple before turning his attention to his cameraman. "Can we go live?"

Mike fiddled with his camera before nodding.

"Good. I have an idea." He stood up and offered Abby a hand. "You want to help?"

Looking up at him for a moment, she wiped her tears away and nodded before reaching for his hand.

--

_Metropolis City News _

_Control Room_

Alex Kingsley sighed and watched the monitor screens before him. He was the director for the MCN and was monitoring all their live feeds, deciding which ones to air live and which ones not to. He had two reporters at the desk, trying to keep the citizens of Metropolis calm and informed, and Snapper Carr in the field, interviewing someone who sounded like she knew what she was talking about.

They were airing his interview live.

"From what I can tell," the young girl whom Snapper was interviewing was saying, "the giant iguanas have just come ashore from the ocean. They are most likely very thirsty and hungry, and will look to satisfy those needs before any others. They are also cold blooded and after a swim will need plenty of sunshine."

"So, you're saying the lizards are going to be instinctively seeking out warmth, food, and water?" Snapper reiterated.

The expert nodded.

The power in the control room cut out, everything pitch black. A few tense seconds later, the emergency generators kicked in; the monitors on the wall before him revved to life, but only a few lights turned back on in the control room.

Alex blinked. "What just happened?"

The control room operators sprung into action, pressing buttons on the boards around him. Several were picking up phones, others were on computers. Alex watched as one by one the monitors on the screen were fading to black.

"We just lost internet connection." One of the men in a headset said, clicking away on the keyboard in front of him.

"Signals out too." A second one said as the screen displaying Snapper and his expert cut to black.

They quickly changed feed to the reporters behind the desk who looked confused.

There was a gasp from a woman in the corner. "We aren't broadcasting anymore," She exclaimed.

The man next to Alex raised blackberry in the air. "I can't get a cell phone signal."

"Phone lines are out too," said the woman who sat directly in front of Alex, a phone in her hands.

Alex rose from his seat. "What the hell is going on?"

One of the operators shook his head. "We are complexly disconnected."

Alex blinked at him slowly, confusion etching itself onto his face. "From what?"

The man sighed. "Everything."


End file.
